A pair of boots on the last: The first one fought back so hard that I had to take several breaks between attempts while I gave myself “pep talks” that mostly consisted of me telling myself that I sucked and no longer deserved to call myself a boot maker. The second one jumped right onto the last and is sitting there looking smug.

Usually I match the side welt (the leather strip going down the side of the boot) to the vamp leather. If I can’t match the vamp leather exactly I go the opposite way and match the boot top leather. I prefer a deliberate contrast to an almost-match.